After Death, I Became My Shijie’s Palm-Sized Birdie – Chapter 58

Qingtuan

Yun Heng realizes it is not the Phoenix Lord, but Qingtuan

Wen Qiwu’s grief drew in all the nearby birds that had yet to awaken intelligence. As for those Feather Tribe members who had already awakened theirs, they hesitated over whether they ought to disturb Wen Qiwu—and so arrived a step later than the other little ones.

            

The birds that had yet to awaken intelligence hopped anxiously back and forth around Wen Qiwu, comforting her in their own way.

“Drip.”

A warm droplet fell, landing squarely on a tiny white creature. The little one lifted its head, scarlet liquid sliding down its head.

            

The little one wiped its head with a wing, then held it before its eyes to examine it—from that action alone, it was not difficult to tell this was a Demon Race creature that had awakened intelligence, hiding among the ordinary birds.

“Chirp!”

It was blood!

            

The bird looked up—and caught sight of Yun Heng’s deathly pale face and the traces of blood at the corner of her mouth that hadn’t been wiped clean.

Its slightly nervous cry abruptly struck the taut string in Wen Qiwu’s mind. She opened her tear-blurred eyes and suddenly noticed that her shijie’s body seemed to have lost some of its strength.

She lifted her head from Yun Heng’s embrace. Her shijie gently stroked the tear tracks on her face and said in a soft voice of comfort, “Don’t cry. The Phoenix Lord is that formidable—she may well have already escaped danger by now.”

            

Wen Qiwu’s tears fell in streams—not only for her mother, but also for her shijie.

Yun Heng’s voice was very faint. It was not because she deliberately lowered her volume, but because she simply had no strength left.

Her injuries had not yet healed to begin with. After enduring a round of Heavenly Punishment, her condition had gone from bad to worse—nearly damaging her very foundation. She hadn’t even had time to rest before rushing here, and in this state, Yun Heng still had to employ a secret technique to win the Phoenix Lord a chance at survival. The Phoenix Lord’s remnant soul was like a candle flickering in the wind—a single gust could extinguish its feeble light.

            

And what Yun Heng did was repair the power of her divine soul while simultaneously shielding her from a portion of the disaster and guiding the way back. But Yun Heng’s own divine soul was already unstable. Bearing an additional remnant soul could only worsen her condition.

And so her body had ended up in its current state. Wen Qiwu raised a hand and gently wiped the blood from her shijie’s mouth. She choked out, “Shijie… did you go and do something behind my back again?”

And whatever it was, it surely had to do with her mother.

            

Yun Heng revealed a smile as gentle as a winter morning sun. She drew Wen Qiwu back into her embrace and said, “Wait a little longer. The Phoenix Lord could never bear to leave you—she will certainly come back to find you.”

Tears welled up in Wen Qiwu’s eyes once more. She wrapped her arms around her shijie’s waist, which had grown even thinner, and nodded.

She knew the odds were slim, but at this moment, she would rather trust her shijie.

            

Her shimei’s sobbing gradually subsided. Yun Heng let out a breath of relief—but no sooner had her guard relaxed than a surge of hot, metallic sweetness rushed up from within.

The blood she spat out stained Wen Qiwu’s shoulder. The secret technique she had just applied to the Phoenix Lord must have absorbed a portion of the spatial tearing’s impact, and Yun Heng had also suffered the effects of the technique’s backlash.

This time, there was truly no hiding it. Darkness swam before Yun Heng’s eyes, and she found she could no longer fully control her own body.

            

The instant that warm liquid landed on Wen Qiwu, her pupils contracted sharply. Fear and helplessness clawed their way into her heart.

“Shijie…” Wen Qiwu’s trembling arms held the already-limp Yu Hengwei, but Yun Heng could not respond to her.

The phoenix’s wail of grief caught in her throat, finally breaking into a hoarse sob. She had only just lost her mother—have mercy, heavens above—she could not lose her shijie too.

            

The Medical Immortal was still at Wenshen Sect. Wansen Domain and Dongzhao Domain were far apart—Wen Qiwu had spent several days traveling here. Several days… it would be too late…

Fortunately, the Feather Tribe kings had erected a complex teleportation array for her. Several Golden Immortal Realm cultivators channeling their power simultaneously could send her directly back to Dongzhao Domain, and once she was within Dongzhao Domain, the remaining journey would be swift.

Wen Qiwu arrived back at Wenshen Sect just as dusk was settling in. The Medical Immortal had been sipping tea while browsing ancient texts. With her heart in such turmoil, Wen Qiwu couldn’t bother with propriety—she kicked the door right in.

            

The Medical Immortal choked on a mouthful of tea. Before she could even scold the intruder, the person in Wen Qiwu’s arms startled her badly.

Yun Heng?

The one who had kicked in her door was that hard-to-kill girl. Who knew whether the journey had gone smoothly…

            

But how had Yun Heng ended up like this? Just that evening, she had personally watched her take her medicine. At the time, Yun Heng’s condition had looked perfectly normal. How had she turned into this half-dead state in the blink of an eye?

The Medical Immortal had no time to puzzle it out. Saving a life came first. She hurriedly had Wen Qiwu lay Yun Heng on the bed. Sure enough, on top of her previous old wounds, the Heavenly Punishment, and the curse, she had acquired new injuries—and these were no milder than the old ones. Fortunately, she was at the True Immortal Realm. Anyone even slightly weaker would never have lasted this long.

Wen Qiwu handed the Purifying Flame Pearl her mother had left her to the Medical Immortal with trembling hands. “Senior, I’ve obtained the Purifying Flame Pearl.”

            

“Good, good. With this, it’ll be much easier… I’ll dispel the curse on her body first.” The Medical Immortal’s eyes lit up. She immediately took the pearl and put it to use.

In the meantime, she listened as Wen Qiwu recounted everything that had happened. Only then did she learn that the “Yun Heng” who had stayed behind at Wenshen Sect was a fake. She had actually sneaked out on the very first day of Wen Qiwu’s departure.

Hah. No wonder the one at the sect had been so obedient. The Medical Immortal’s lips twitched. Lately, Yun Heng had been so compliant that it felt almost unreal. After this little stunt, she even had a “just as I thought” feeling.

            

She had said all along that Yun Heng could never just stay put in the sect! She had been careless.

“Go rest for a while. Don’t worry—Sect Master Yun will be fine.” The Medical Immortal glanced at Wen Qiwu’s exhausted, fragile expression and swallowed her urge to lecture her. This girl was already miserable enough. There was no rush—there would be plenty of opportunities to have words with her later.

Wen Qiwu silently shook her head. She held Yun Heng’s hand, unwilling to leave. She was like a startled bird—she had to stay and watch over the patient until she saw with her own eyes that she was well.

            

The Medical Immortal sighed and didn’t insist.

The patient had accumulated too many injuries. Even the Medical Immortal had to carefully untangle them one by one. Who knew what dangerous things she had gotten up to after leaving this time—her internal condition was an utter mess again. Fortunately, the Purifying Flame Pearl Wen Qiwu had brought dispelled the curse the Heavenly Dao had placed on Yun Heng. Otherwise, even the Medical Immortal wasn’t certain she could stabilize her condition this time.

The Medical Immortal treated her for an entire day before Yun Heng was out of danger. After the Medical Immortal left, Wen Qiwu kept vigil at her bedside, not daring to leave for even a moment.

            

Yun Heng’s face was as white as paper. She lay there quietly, the rise and fall of her chest barely perceptible—as if she were already…

Wen Qiwu pressed Yun Heng’s palm against her own cheek. Her shijie’s palm still carried a trace of warmth. Only that faint warmth could give her any peace of mind.

Her tears slipped down unbidden. The warmth of Wen Qiwu’s tears far exceeded the temperature of Yun Heng’s hand. Whether or not Yun Heng had been stung by the heat of Wen Qiwu’s tears, her fingertips gave a faint twitch.

            

“Shijie, please wake up soon.” Wen Qiwu murmured softly to the unconscious figure. “The Qingluan King and the others did say they’d take me to Shiling Domain, you know. If you don’t wake up soon, I might just go with them.”

Wen Qiwu sat by Yun Heng’s side, losing count of how many things she had said. No matter how she called to her shijie, she wouldn’t wake. The Feather Tribe kings were also anxious about the situation here, so each of them had contacted her—and every single one had expressed an intent to lure her back to their own territory.

She had refused them one by one. How could she possibly leave Wenshen Sect now? She never expected that she had only casually mentioned this matter, and in the span of a single turn, when she raised her eyes again, she was meeting her shijie’s gaze.

            

Yun Heng was incredibly weak. She had all but spent her last ounce of strength to grip her shimei’s hand back and plead, “Don’t go…”

Her shijie looked like a frail, sickly little creature about to be abandoned. Wen Qiwu’s eyes reddened instantly, and she threw herself into her shijie’s embrace and wept freely.

Startled awake by her shimei’s words about leaving, Yun Heng instinctively wrapped her arms around the person in her embrace. She gently patted her shimei’s back, comforting her over and over, telling her not to be afraid.

            

How could she not be afraid? Wen Qiwu thought that if she closed her eyes, her dreams would surely be filled with the image of her shijie at death’s door.

She held her shijie tighter. Yun Heng sensed her fear and patted her back again.

After a long while, Wen Qiwu’s crying gradually subsided. She wiped her tears, settled Yun Heng back down, and went to the pharmacy to fetch medicine.

            

Her crying had drawn many birds again. They surrounded the building in layer after layer, and the moment Wen Qiwu emerged, they flocked to her.

“Cough, cough.” Yun Heng gave a weak cough. Those birds outside were truly… somewhat annoying.

Hearing Yun Heng cough, Wen Qiwu assumed she was unwell. She hurried to the pharmacy, and at the same time called the Medical Immortal over to check on her shijie’s condition.

            

“Flutter!”

Though Yun Heng’s body was here, her Divine Sense had been tracking her shimei’s direction all along. If anyone was afraid of loss… Yun Heng carried far more psychological scars.

But as her Divine Sense drifted outward, she suddenly heard some sort of movement beside her—like a bird flapping its wings.

            

Had a bird actually gotten in?

Yun Heng slowly opened her eyes and looked toward the source of the sound. A little white ball of fluff was strolling across the floor beside her bed as casually as if it were taking a walk.

The moment she saw that little ball of fluff, Yun Heng nearly sat bolt upright.

            

That little ball was almost identical to Wen Qiwu’s original form. Yun Heng’s lips trembled as she nearly blurted out, “Phoenix Lord?”

The little ball of fluff glanced at her, then swaggered off again with an air of utter self-importance. Every fiber of its being radiated an untamed, rebellious spirit. Yun Heng realized this little ball of fluff was not the Phoenix Lord—it was Qingtuan.

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